Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is an entertaining romantic comedy to say the least. Upon first reading the play, one may simply laugh at the silliness and absurdities throughout the piece. Between the mis-identification amongst lovers and the subsequent hijinks that ensues because of it, the amusement of this play never ceases throughout the course of its three acts. However, after deeply examining this text through Richard Hornsby’s approach of isolating the script, treating
Despite being a man-made concept, social class enforces societal norms that restrict freedom. These restrictions set upon personality and behavior greatly affect the relationships between the lower and higher class. William Shakespeare's As You Like It and Oscar Wilde’s The importance of being Earnest both prove that social class restricts free will by creating barriers within the public, determining self worth and defining one’s duties in society. Barriers around human interaction are as a
It is easy to watch a play and enjoy a story, but it is much more to be able to look past the surface to understand the inspirations behind a work and be able to take a look at history from a more involved perspective. The Importance of Being Earnest was written by Irish author Oscar Wilde at the end of the 19th century. In this play Wilde very strongly uses influences from his world to create the characters, dialogue, and overall plot of the story. Oscar Wilde “...believed that style--in life as
comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, (The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002), Oscar Wilde weaves a tale of humorous irony and satire. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff go to extreme lengths, even pretending to be completely different people in order to wed the women they love. Oscar Wilde incorporates irony to convey the means in which lies can lead to altered perspectives of a person, realizations of identity, and changed relationships. Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde incorporates
impossibility!” Throughout, The Importance of Being Ernest, Oscar Wilde uses aphorisms to convey truths about society. A good example of the above aphorism’s reference to society is in the form of “bunburying”. Algy suspects Jack of being a “Bunburyist”, someone who has a fake story to get out of certain situations. After some pressuring Jack says, “in order [for me] to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother by the name of Ernest, who lives in the Albany, and gets into the
In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest, Jack and Algernon, the protagonists, create an alias to remove themselves from their hectic schedules. They sneak off to an area where they do not reside in, the country or the city, to remove themselves from the responsibilities that are facing them. Jack’s alibi, Ernest, gives him free reign to take many days off and do whatever he pleases. Simultaneously, Algernon creates a ghost to give him a reason to flee from his normal duties. They use this
The Literature, Importance of Being Ernest, by Fiona Gregory, is complete reflection of the nature of marriage and social life during the Victorian age. It has helped accept and appreciate that different people have different cultural observations. It based on the theatrical play, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. The storyline presents the life of a Jack, who lives a double life. He is Jack Worthing in the village and Ernest Worthing in the city. He is in pursuit of his fiancé, Gwendoline
fate. Changing your name won’t create a new life for you. Attempting to escape your life is impossible because everywhere you go, your real life follows. This was the major dilemma that Jack Worthing faced in Oscar Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. In the countryside Jack was known by his real name, Jack, but in the city he was known as Earnest. His attempts to live a double life proved too much for him to handle and soon became complete chaos. This scenario made me propose the question
her death on January 22nd, 1901. The Importance of Being Earnest, a trivial comedy for serious people, is a play by Oscar Wilde set in the Victorian Era. First performed on February 14th 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London. It is a comedy in which the protagonists maintains a fictitious persons to escape burdensome social obligations. The Importance of Being Earnest. Jack, a carefree young man, is the inventor of a fictitious brother, Ernest, whose wicked ways afford Jack an excuse to leave
Lady Augusta Bracknell In The Importance of Being Ernest The most memorable character and one who has a tremendous impact on the audience is Lady Augusta Bracknell. Wilde’s audience would have identified most with her titled position and bearing. Wilde humorously makes her the tool of the conflict, and much of the satire. She serves well the plot and the theme of the play. She is the strong hand who forces the whole play to move forward with a happy ending. . Generally, Lady Bracknell is first
“Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it, and the bloom is gone,” engraves Oscar Wilde as he sets the literary table with a bountiful demonstration of Victorian satire. “The Importance of Being Earnest” is evidently a comic critic of late Victorian value (Schmidt 5). Brought into this world from Dublin, Ireland, to well-heeled parents in 1854. Wilde received an opportunity for social improvement when graduating from Oxford University, after receiving a financial scholarship that gave him a first
Annotated Bibliography Bastiat, Brigitte. “The Importance of Being EArnest(1895) by Oscar Wilde: Conformity and Resistance in Victorian Society. “ NC LIVE.NC LIVE, Oct. 2010. Web. This creator separates the significance of keeping up the senior high agreeable review over the span of the show and furthermore the time. This source separates the gauge of keeping up amiable financial through the play and how it has an awesome effect. The Importance of Earnest is a sensational play that shows the greater
union and togetherness as we see in the marriage scene at the end of Midsummer's Night Dream. William Hazlitt tells us that one can also expect incongruities, misunderstandings, and contradictions. I am reminded of the play The Importance of Being Ernest and the humor by way of mistaken identity. Sigmund Freud tells us to expect excess and exaggeration in comedy. Chekhov's Marriage Proposal displays this excess both in language and in movements. Charles Darwin insists that in a comedy "circumstances
tragedy, “Hamlet,” critiques the society of Denmark using powerful mononlogues and dramatic action. On the other hand, Wilde’s comic drama pokes fun at the high morality of Victorian Society. One serious theme that I noticed in “The Importance of being Ernest” was the consistent act of deception throughout the entire play. However this lack of honesty was not lonesome for insightful comedy and a visible foreshadowing of upcoming events accompanied it. Meaning that the play was cleverly written with
person, but she later finds out that he is not. Also in, Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham she gets the impression that he is very nice and gentlemen like, but she finds different with him too. In the story " The Importance of being Ernest" Lady Bracknell does not like Jack because he does not have any money and does not live up to her standards, but little does she know. In "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, Elizabeth thinks Mr. Darcy is a very rude and self centered person
thank you sincerely for sharing this special day with us. As about half of you will know, this is my second father of the bride speech. To misquote Oscar Wilde from 'The Importance of Being Ernest: “To lose one daughter may be considered unlucky. to lose two is careless!” Well. I guess that's O.K. because my being careless is how they came to be here in the first place. Making the father of the bride speech, I feel a bit like a Sheik walking into his harem for the first time. I know what I've
Comedy has taken many forms, with some even defining certain eras in comedic literature. For example, most comedy of manners are directly aimed at making fun of the hypocritical aristocrats of 19th century England. One of these works, The Importance of Being Earnest, derives almost all of its comedy from the ridiculing and exposing the societal characteristics of the upper class. The story follows an orphaned aristocrat’s troublesome quest for love. As simple as it might seem,
cannot resist. A lie not closely monitored may become out of hand and turn into something undesired. In the satirical play The Importance Of Being Ernest, the playwright Oscar Wilde shows through irony that dishonesty if not carefully maintained, can snowball into an uncontrollable predicament. The Importance Of Being Ernest mocks the Victorian values of being honest, to uphold responsibilities and to live life earnestly. This is
follows Jack Worthing, an upper class man who lives a double life in England during the Victorian era. He goes by the name Jack in the country, and Ernest in the city, using the mishaps of his fake brother who he named Ernest as an excuse to go to the city. Eventually, a complicated love affair occurs as a result of Jack’s double life. The Importance of Being Earnest is such a unique classic that it cannot be truly classified with other plays of similar manner. Its message against traditional Victorian
author renowned for his two novels “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” knew of this greatly. Although both stories are quite different, Wilde binds them with the themes of insecurity, love and morality and not only shows how similar the lives of the main characters are but how these themes are significantly play throughout their whole life. Most of the time, the feeling of being insecure give people a reason to change their way of thinking